


The Lightbringer

by Maeoreth



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Angel Powers, Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 05:01:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10960212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maeoreth/pseuds/Maeoreth
Summary: Starts at the beginning of the Avengers film. Continues through to most present film. I started writing this right after CATWS came out and forgot about it because college. May eventually pick it up and finish. Uses some pieces of the way angelic powers are described in Supernatural.Micaela Lightbringer is unlike any other being in the world. She is the only living Nephilim. Coming from a long line of angels descended from the Archangel Michael, her kind can live to be hundreds of years old and their duty is protect mankind from supernatural threats. Director Fury decides that a Nordic God who's stolen the Tesseract constitutes, and calls upon the only known expert in this field. But she has an advantage as well that Directory Fury is after - the ability to hear lies as they're being spoken. He hopes that, plus a strength to rival that of The Hulk's, and a weapon gifted to her family by her angelic ancestor that can change to whatever form she needs, will be enough arsenal to stop Loki just in case the Avengers fail.





	1. Chapter 1

A flash of light and darkness zips between crumbling buildings.

_ This is not where my story begins. _

Screeching, like metal grinding, sounds overhead.

_ Nor where it ends. _

Troops descend from overhead, but the darkness is quick to meet them.

_ Only where people believe I begin. _

A flash of light, and the troops shatter into nothing.

_ But I am older than this. _

The scene changes. Instead of the center of a metropolis, a small, dark room, filled with worried women. A cry of anguish, and then a small cry of fear. Coos follow, as the now calm women back away from the center, carrying a small figure in their arms. They whisper about the marks already beginning to form, worried.The mother, her innards healing as though on their own from where they lay splayed on her bed, demands to see. The clean the blood off the baby, who seems to recognize its mother voice.

“It’s a girl,” one of the women murmurs. Black marks, like tattoos, are already laying splayed across the baby’s face, curling around her features. The mother takes a deep breath.

“She will be great among us.”

Another flash, this one of time. There are slits in the darkness, showing a woman and man fighting brutally, each seeking the other’s end. It’s the mother. Then the man’s fist goes through her stomach, and she falls before him. He searches through the whole house for over an hour, then finally leaves. The darkness gives way to full light, and a girl reaches for the woman, crying. It is too late. She is already dead.

The girl twirls her blades in her hands, moving deftly from combatant to combatant. More time has passed, she is older now. Flashes of darkness and light allow her to seemingly teleport across the mat, appearing and reappearing behind her foes unexpectedly. In time, each are knocked unconscious, though all are quite larger than she. Only one lands a hit, directly to her jaw. His hand breaks.

Now many years have passed, though she’s barely aged. Using her familiar sword, which glows faintly, she attacks her three opponents. They look human, but the hissing noises they make as her sword slashes their bodies betray their true nature. Soon enough, she has sliced all three of them down, and they turn to dust before her. She puts away her sword.

_ That should be the end of the possessions in this town. _

A man steps from the shadows. “Micaela.”

She stops dead at the sound of her name, and she looks to the man. “Yes?”

“My name is Director Fury…. I need your help.”

A door slams open, and Micaela grunts a little, irritated at how loud the sound is. Director Fury walks in behind her. The place is small, with only one dim, exposed bulb overhead. There isn’t even a mattress. A small fridge, a sink, some blankets in a corner, and a table with papers on it in the center.

“I thought your kind didn’t need sleep?” He asks pointedly, and she narrows her eyes at him. 

There’s only one chair, which she pulls back for him. “ _ Sit _ .” He does so. “What exactly do you know about me?”

“I know that you have abilities I can’t begin to imagine, probably some I don’t even know about. You’re based out of the Vatican, and that you’re older than you look. I even hear you’re up for Sainthood.”

She raises an eyebrow, “That hasn’t reached my ears yet.”

He grins a little. “You do good work. Pope’s gotta find some way to keep rewarding you for it.”

She shakes her head. “How do you know all this?”

“Because I need to. I’m in charge of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.”

“S.H.I.E.L.D? Never heard of you. Can I assume you’re American?” She reaches into the fridge and retrieves two bottles of water, one of which she places in front of him.

“Thank you. Yes, we’re a black ops division in the U.S. government.”

“And what exactly is so bad that the U.S. government would seek  _ my _ help? Or is it something I did?”

He chuckles, “No, you’re practically  _ angelic _ .” They share a look. “We have a problem; one that’s bigger than either of the parties we represent.” A folder is produced from inside his long, black leather coat. He splays it on the table in front of her, and she glances through the photos. “He’s called Loki. He’s not from around here. In about two seconds, he brainwashed some of my best men with a touch of that sceptre.” She looks up to meet his eyes. “No one knows more about that stuff than you.”

“What aren’t you telling me?” She says, very directly. His grin returns.

“They said you were straightforward.” Her expression doesn’t change, though his falls. “How familiar are you with Norse mythology?”


	2. Chapter 2

_The fastest way is always up. Though it’s not always the best way._

Micaela’s knee bounces as the car carefully follows traffic. She glances once at her counterpart. Nick Fury has been nothing but the absolute exceptionally honest with her, even when she asked very personal questions. She had been unable to judge him for his sins because of his confession, and remained impassive toward him. She wants to stand, stretch. But she waits, watching the building pass by.

“Can you not bounce your leg?” The shaking stops instantly. “My men got in contact with the Vatican. You’re officially on loan.”

Her eyes don’t divert from the people. “That was considerate of you. Though they would not have stopped me from serving you.”

Fury snorts, shaking his head. “Has anyone ever told you you’re maybe too honest?”

Micaela finally looks at him, confused, but they pull in front of a security gate. Fury just has to look at the guy and they’re let in. The plane ride had been quiet. The car ride had been quiet. Micaela couldn’t figure this man out. If he really knew of her abilities, why take all these mundane vehicles? If he was really in charge of a United States government department, couldn’t he have gotten them a private jet or something?

They park, and Fury gets out. “Penny for your thoughts?”

Now she’s _really_ confused, “What?”

He chuckles. “It means, what are you thinkin’ about?”

“You. You know what I can do, and if you really who you say you are, then why take the slow route? We could have arrived here yesterday.”

“Because they weren’t ready for us yesterday. I got to you a day sooner than I expected. Besides, you’re someone who’s slow to trust, for good reason.” He comes around the corner of the car to stand next to her, and he pokes her forehead lightly, “And I need that built-in lie detector in your brain on my side.”

Her eyes narrow very slightly. “You manipulated me.”

“I manipulated our schedule to make it more accommodating. Money and power don’t mean a thing to someone like you. What good would taking a private plane have done, other than cost more money? It sure as hell wouldn’t have impressed you any. And there is no way in hell I’m ridin’ on your back.”

She resists the urge to roll her eyes, but she follows him inside. They go through a hanger, and she gets a lot of weird looks for her ‘tattoos’. When they get on the other side, there’s a large ship that Micaela can’t see the other side of, and Fury leads her inside. He shows her a set of stairs, tells her to go up topside, and that he’d see her again shortly. There were some people up there she’d want to meet. Going above, a woman with red hair stops her with a small smirk.

“You’re Fury’s new project, right?”

Micaela raises an eyebrow at the woman. “I suppose.”

“Good. Follow me. I’m Natasha, by the way.”

“Micaela. Откуда вы?” ( _Where are you from?_ )

Natasha is startled at first, but she just looks at Micaela curiously. “Он сказал мне, что ты говорил много языков.” ( _He told me you spoke a lot of languages._ ) Micaela nods. “Сталинград.” ( _Stalingrad._ )

“Я слышал, что это очень красивый город.” ( _I’ve heard it’s a beautiful city._ )

“Это было.” ( _It was._ ) Natasha seems distracted for a second, before she looks up toward the people at the edge of the ship.

A short man looks up at Natasha. “Agent Romanoff. Captain Rogers.”

A tall, blond hair, blue-eyed man looks at both women, before realizing the short man is indicating to Natasha. “Ma’am.”

“Hi.” She indicates to Micaela, who is being intently studied by Captain Rogers, “This is my new friend, Micaela. She’s Italian.” Both men greet Micaela, who only inclines her head to each of them, then Natasha looks at the short man. “They need you on the bridge. Face time.”

“See you there,” the short man cryptically answers before walking away leaving the three. Captain Rogers towards the railing of the ship. Micaela trails a little bit behind, studying the two new people.

“There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?”

Micaela notices that he is only minorly scarred by his sins; he has tried to lead a holy life. “Trading cards?”

The other woman, however, has many sins, though there are just as many scars of atonement. “They're vintage, he's very proud.”

Captain Rogers glances over his shoulder at Micaela, who meets his eyes, expressionless. “Is she always this quiet?” He tries to ask Natasha so Micaela can’t hear. Natasha only smirks.

A nervous man catches their attention as he stumbles around. He keeps trying to not run into people, and runs into someone else by accident anyway.

“Dr. Banner!” Capt. Rogers finally calls, and they walk over to him.

“Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming.” He answers once they’re within earshot.

Rogers shakes his hand. “Word is you can find the cube.”

“Is that the only word on me?” Banner asks, both nervous and almost sardonic.

“Only word I care about.” Is Rogers’ answer.

There’s a brief pause as Banner takes that in, before he meets Micaela’s eye. “We haven’t met. I’m Bruce.” He extends a hand.

Micaela hesitates, then takes it. “Mica-”a flash of a green rage”-ela.”

“She’s Italian,” Natasha informs him, half-smiling. Rogers gives her a weird look.

“I see,” Bruce says hesitantly, like he obviously doesn’t. He releases Micaela’s hand, then looks at Rogers. “Must be strange for you, all of this.”

“Well, this is actually kind of familiar.” Rogers responds, looking around and smiling a little to himself.

“Gentlemen,” the two referenced turn to Natasha, who’s grinning, “you may wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breath.” The ship begins to shake beneath them.

“Is this is a submarine?” Rogers asks, confused.

“Really? They wanted me in a submerged pressurized metal container?” Banner also asks, these questions are far more sarcastic however.

The three move closer to the edge of the ship. Four huge lift fans mounted on the sides start to lift into the air in vtol flight. Rogers and Micaela are in awe as Banner smiles.

“Oh, no. This is much worse.”

Micaela is in such shock, she almost forgets to follow Rogers and Bruce inside. She quickly scurries after them as the wind picks up, and the heavy metal door is slammed behind them. The trio follow Natasha inside, and threw a set of glass doors, they arrive at what Micaela can only assume to be the command center. Director Fury stands with his back to them, surrounded by four screens, at least two of which are almost constantly being touched by his fingertips. Watching the two men she came in with out of the corners of her eyes, she notices Banner approach a doorway to leave but there are guards, so he tries to casually walk away. Rogers just meanders, smiling to himself. Micaela moves to stand behind Fury, her hands behind her back. A woman she doesn’t know steps closer and speaks to Director Fury.

“We’re at level, sir.”

“Good, let’s vanish.”

“Engage retroreflective panels…”

Micaela tunes out the rest. She feels a little overdressed for the occasion. Bruce and Rogers are dressed in such a way that looks nice on them, but everyone else is wearing a matching blue uniform. She glances down at her full armor. _Not like I had a chance to change. Oh well._

She lets her eyes wander as she waits to be addressed, and catches her reflection in the mirror. It had been, what, six months since the last time she’d been allowed to look? Vanity was frowned upon, but it had been a while, she could risk it. Her hair was longer than she remembered. The blonde locks were mottled with blood and dirt, making them look almost brown, and they were hanging around her shoulders now. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d properly washed her hair, not that she really cared to. Her eyes were the same mismatch color they’d always been. One blue, one green. Her mother’s eyes had been blue and brown. Strangely, they looked more like what she remembered her mother’s eyes had looked like before her mother died than her own did. Harder, more lines around them. The markings all over her face and body were still as heavily present as ever, covering up her scars and blemishes. They are part of everything that’s supposed to distinguish her from all other humans.

Her armor looks relatively the same. Old as time itself, though strong. Made out of an unidentifiable metal; something not on the periodic table. The pauldrons and cuisse are made in a laminar style, come to sharp, leaf-shaped points at the tips. The breastplate is also laminar, with a curling gold design that ends in a cross at the center of her chest. Her upper arms and elbows are covered in similarly styled rerebraces and couters, though these aren’t layered like the rest. The tops of her gauntlets are layered, however, and the metal gloves are stripped open on the inside to expose her hands. The finger pieces come to a very sharp, gold-tipped point. The tops of the greaves disappear inside the cascading end of her cuisse, but these also fan out in a layered pattern around her ankles. Her sabatons are also layered, though the pattern goes out toward her toes before the shoes end in yet another sharp point.

The whole of her armor is a dull silver with gold trimmings and patterns. Everything about it is utterly deliberate. Each piece of the laminar pattern has a shallow gold edge. The larger, bulkier pieces of armor have gold that seems to swirl around her, going from the very edges to her center, where there is an ancient, runic symbol. The metal of her armor is as dense as osmium, light as aluminum, strong as steel, and flexible as nitinol. The scabbard at her back is made of a similar material, and the large hilt sticking out is gold plated. Nothing about her appearance is inconspicuous.

Fury turns around, and Micaela snaps to attention. “Gentlemen, and lady.”

Rogers walks past and fishes money out of his wallet, handing it to Fury. He then continues moving forward to investigate the controls as one of the officers watches him. Micaela turns to watch in quiet curiosity the exchange between Bruce and Fury.

“Doctor, thank you for coming,” Nick manages to get a handshake.

“Thanks for asking nicely,” Banner answers after a bit of hesitation. He avoids eye contact. “So uh, how long am I staying?”

“Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you’re in the wind.” The word makes Micaela uncomfortable.

Bruce nods. “Where are you with that?”

Fury indicates to the short man from earlier, “We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us.”

Micaela notices Rogers watching Romanoff, who’s staring at a picture on a screen before turning to them, “That's still not gonna find them in time.”

Banner starts taking off his jacket, “You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?”

Fury crosses his arms while leaning against the railing, “How many are there?”

“Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?”

“Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr.Banner and Miss Micaela to their laboratory, please?” Natasha nods, and Bruce and Micaela share a curious look.

“You’re familiar with anti-electron collisions?” Banner asks, and Micaela shakes her head.

“No, but there’s no one on this planet more familiar with the supernatural and extraterrestrial,” Fury cuts in, turning to Micaela, “I was hoping you wouldn’t mind aiding Dr. Banner, given your experience in this type of work.”

“By your command,” is Micaela’s response. The trio leave, Romanoff leading the other two back down the hall they entered through.

“You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys."


	3. Chapter 3

_ To know others, you must first know yourself. _

When they arrive, Banner immediately sets himself to work. Natasha pulls Micaela aside, and tells her about what happened to Rogers. Once she’s caught up, Micaela extracts herself from the conversation, dismissing Romanova for the time being, so she can help. As she wanders towards Dr. Banner, her dimly glowing armor begins to literally evaporate, swirling away from her until all that’s left is the woman beneath. Her civilian clothes are rather unassuming, a plain dark blue long sleeved shirt and jeans. Dr. Banner stares as her armor disappears, finally blinking a few times once it’s all gone and she’s pulling a screen towards herself.

“Do you mind if I ask how you just did that?” He asks with a small manner of hesitation.

“I do not,” is her simple reply as she taps the screen for more information, “I am able to construct and deconstruct my appearance.” Her long blonde hair recedes and is suddenly the same length and color of Natasha’s. He gapes. “This is not my true appearance - if I were to show you, your eyeballs would explode and your brain would melt.” Her hair returns to its original color and shape.

“And wh-why’s that?”

She looks up at him with a small smile, “Because in my natural form, I am being of mostly pure light.”

His eyes widen considerably, and it takes a moment before he’s able to answer her, “Oh. I, uh, suppose that makes sense.”

The loud vibrations of a bell resound behind her ears. “What piece do you not understand?”

He chuckles, “The part where you’re a being made of light who can take any appearance of her choosing.”

Micaela pushes the screen away. “Dr. Banner, if you knew the truth, I do not believe you would accept it. For the time being, perhaps it is best if we try to find this device so that we may all go home.”

Bruce stares at her for a beat, “You know, you’re the first person to look at me like I’m…” He struggles for a term.

“Like you’re what, Dr. Banner?”

“Human,” he finally answers.

While she doesn’t understand exactly what that means, she gives him an awkward smile regardless, and returns to her work. The two manage to work around each other for the next few hours in primarily silence. Evening comes without either ever noticing, until an alert lights up their screens, informing them that Micaela is needed above.

Within the hour, Micaela is hovering overhead, clad once again in her heavy gold armor. The black markings usually covering almost every inch of her body are gone. She hovers at the edge of cloud cover, where she’ll remain virtually invisible to the satellites overhead. Her rapid movement causes the wind to stir, a storm brewing. She watches as the being known as Loki and Captain America duke it out below on the streets of Germany. She’s to be back up… just in case. A role she finds herself liking more than she thought. It’s when she’s just about to descend to enforce the victory that she hears blasting music, and from a distance, she sees the approach of a small figure. Once it lands, she’s able to make out it’s something in the shape of a person. As Loki is loaded into the jet, so rain begins to fall. Micaela follows.

Then lightning strikes, and Micaela is so close she instinctively covers her eyes with her arm. When she looks again, there’s another man standing with the others, though she instantly recognizes him as  _ not  _ human. The ramp is open, and before Micaela can fly in to stop the goings on of the jet, the being takes Loki and flies off. She immediately maneuvers to follow, but in the rain, she quickly loses the dark figures. She circles above, waiting, until the man-shaped-flying-thing spots them, and tackles the larger one to the ground from where it had been on the mountain. Micaela swoopes down to where Loki sits, and places a hand on his shoulder. He gives her a look of mild confusion.

“You.. you are-”

“Nothing to you,” Micaela cuts him off, “but a would-be executor. If it is your wish to stay alive, I would recommend not speaking.”

He swallows thickly, but does as requested. They watch the little soiree below that results in the death of every tree in the area, and when it is complete, Micaela lifts Loki up herself back into the jet. Once the other three arrive, she draws the gold-plated weapon from her back. A long, glowing, large trident (one too big and too oddly-shaped to have fit in the scabbard on her back) is retrieved, and pins Loki by the throat to the side of the jet.

“Loki of Jotunheim,” she says in her most authoritative voice, “You are hereby decreed to be a liar, a thief, and a murderer. If you touch that trident and attempt to escape, it will burn and scar your flesh, ultimately resulting in your death.”

“I feel so welcome already,” he sarcastically replies, and Micaela ignores the familiar vibration behind her ears.

“Is that truly necessary?” Thor asks, and she detects that he is attempting to hide his concern.

“Since you would have let him go, and these two,” she indicates to Rogers and the metal man, “were powerless to stop it? Yes. It is.” She pushes past the three and leans over Romanoff’s co-pilot seat, “Is there anyway we can go faster?” She murmurs to the other woman, who laughs softly.

By the time they return to the Helicarrier, the tension is thick enough to cut with a knife. Loki is lead downstairs to a secure chamber, one which Macaela wants to escort him to herself, but she’s told to be with Banner. She’s in the lab when they finally march Loki past, and eyes him with the full might of her wrathful stare as he smiles at them. Banner says nothing; he just looks uncomfortable. They’re soon together pulled up to the bridge, where they listen in on Loki’s interrogation.

“In case it's unclear. You try to escape? You so much as  _ scratch _ that glass.” They watch as Fury presses a button which opens a hatch under Loki's cell. Loki peers as much as he can from the glass. “Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You  _ get how that works _ ?!” Fury closes the hatch, and then points at Loki. “Ant.” He then points at the button which would drop Loki into the steel trap. “Boot.”

Loki only smirks. “It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me.”

“Built for something a lot stronger than you.”

“Oh, I've heard.” Loki looks up into the camera overhead. “A mindless beast, makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?”

Micaela and Natasha notice Bruce staring into the monitor intently. Thor is the only one not watching, instead listening. Nick’s response is riddled with anger. “How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill `cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did.”

Loki is unimpressed. “ _ Ooh _ . It  _ burns _ you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power,  _ unlimited _ power. And for  _ what _ ? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what  _ real power _ is.”

Fury is equally unimpressed. “Well, let me know if  _ Real Power _ wants a magazine or somethin’.” And he’s gone. Loki approaches the camera, and then blinks out of view. 

There’s a pause, “He really grows on you, doesn’t he?” Banner finally comments.

“Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?” Steve says from his chair. Banner stands over his shoulder, while Natasha and Micaela (who’s back in civilian clothing) sit near the head of the table. Thor stands across the table from Rogers, who’s staring.

The aforementioned king finally rises out of his thoughts. “He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract.”

Steve’s expression is rather deadpan. “An army. From outer space.”

“So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for.” Banner pieces together, using his glasses to gesture with, and Micaela smiles a little.

“Selvig?” Thor asks, confused.

“He’s an astrophysicist,” Bruce fills in.

“He’s a friend,” the Asgardian answers.

“Loki has him under some kind of spell…” she looks away uncomfortably, “along with one of ours.”

“I wanna know why Loki let us take him.” Steve says with some amount of confidence, “He's not leading an army from here.” He glances over his shoulder as though to double check that Loki actually can’t lead an army from here.

“I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him.” Bruce says, his face twisted up into a grimace.

“Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother.” Thor replies, challengingly.

“He killed eighty people in two days.” Natasha answers with zero patience.   


“... He's adopted.”   


“I think it’s about the mechanics. Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?” Banner asks after another pause, this one full of his thoughts.   


“It's a stabilizing agent.” The man Micaela has been informed is Stark says as he walks in with Coulson. “I’m telling you, pick a weekend, I'll fly you there. Keep the love alive,” he says to the other man before turning to the group. “Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD.” He spots Thor, and then moves to get past him. “No hard feelings, Point Break. You’ve got a mean swing,” he pats the  _ much _ larger man on the arm as he walks by, and then returns to the subject at hand. “Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants.” He stands where Director Fury had been earlier, and then starts lamely giving orders. “Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails... “ When he receives nothing but awkward stares: “That man is playing Galaga!” Everyone looks. “Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did.” Then he covers his eye, looking around. “How does Fury do this?”   


“He turns.” Agent Hill, who Micaela was introduced to earlier that evening, answers.

Tony looks around, spinning a bit in place, and begins touching a few buttons, fiddling. “Well, that sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source.” His hands slide off the monitors. “A high energy density, something to kick start the cube.”

“When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?” Agent Hill asks, mildly impressed.   


“Last night.” He answers easily. “The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?”   


“Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?” Steve asks, intentionally not answering the question.   


“He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier.”  _ Aaand now nothing makes sense. _

“Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect.”   


“Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet.”   


“Finally! Someone who speaks English.”

“Is that what just happened?” Rogers asks, just as confused as Micaela.

Tony and Banner shake hands. “It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.”

And Banner’s uncomfortable again. “ _ Thanks _ .”   


Director Fury walks in at that exact moment. “Dr. Banner and Ms. Micaela are only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join them.”

“Let's start with that stick of his,” Steve cuts in, an unmistakeable leader. “It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.”   


“I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.”

“Monkeys?” Thor asks, “I do not understand.”   


“I do!” Rogers cuts in, unprecedentedly happy, “I understood that reference.” Tony rolls his eyes, while Cap looks proud of himself.   


“Shall we play, doctor?” Tony asks, and Bruce gestures a summons toward Micaela, who quickly gets up to follow.

“Let's play some.”

The three retreat to the lab. Stark holds the door open for both of them, and while he lets Banner pass without comment, he stares openly at Micaela as she walks by. He doesn’t let up, even when she briefly makes eye contact, and when she sits on the other side of the room, pulls up a monitor, and starts working. She ignores him for the most part; she’s been stared at before, and she will be again. She shoots off emails to old acquaintances, asking people to keep an eye out for Selvig and Barton, attaching photos as well. She adds that they are under some kind of new form of possession, and must be brought in  _ alive _ in order to be studied. With those sent, she pulls something else up when Stark is suddenly next to her, examining the see-through screen.

“What’cha workin’ on?”

“I am attempting to sift through global newsfeeds. Computers are flawed; there are hints that they can miss.”

“Such as?”

“Tampering. Not completely accurate information.”

Banner snorts in his corner, “Isn’t that just normal news?”

“Not exactly,” Micaela answers, “Normal news is rarely actually  _ wrong _ or an outright lie. Just the truth spun to fit a certain point of view, with a couple of lies peppered on top. These are normally to support some kind of agenda, whether that be fewer gun laws, pro-abortion legislation, or an advertisement to buy a new product. These are usually very obvious. What I’m looking for is far more subtle and sinister in nature. Blatant lies to misinform the general public, disguised as truth so it can be swallowed easier. If it is within Loki’s intent to rule the world as he claims, he’s going to need the media on his side, or else he’ll have a historically large rebellion on his hands. Barton’s already been posting things all over the news to garner attention. If nothing else, he has an operation going on somewhere in the world. That requires energy, food, water, people. These have to be coming from somewhere, so I’m looking for odd reports on recent developments and projects. Maybe something that’s recently come under new management.”

Stark blinks twice, shoots Banner a look, and then is back in the verbal ring. “I’m sorry, but you sound like you’ve seen this before, but you don’t look a day over twenty years old.”

“I’ve dealt with mass mind control and world-dominating megalomaniacs before, yes.” Micaela pauses, giving Stark a glance. “I… am seventeen.” There’s a soft reverberation behind her ears.

Tony’s jaw hits the ground. “ _ Seventeen _ ? What are you,  _ English _ ?”

“Actually, she’s Italian,” Bruce fills in, “And that’s the first time since we met this morning I’ve seen her smile.” He adds after she gives him one.

Stark continues to stare for another beat before walking away, looking up at Banner, “I swear, they get younger all the time.”

Bruce chuckles, and then uses a gamma ray detection scanner on the scepter for radiation. Tony looks at his monitors, shifting and solving algorithms and equations.

“The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. But it's gonna take weeks to process.” Banner says after a pause.   


“If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the H.O.M.E.R. cluster, we can clock this around six hundred teraflops.” Stark answers.

“All I packed was a tooth brush.”

Tony smiles, “You know, you should come by Stark Towers sometime. Top ten floors, all  R&D. You'd love it, it's candy land.”

“Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke...Harlem.” Macaela’s eyebrows raise ever so slightly, though she pretends not to have heard that.

“Well, I promise a stress free environment. No tension. No surprises.” Suddenly, Tony pokes Banner with a mini electric prod. Steve walks in on them, pissed at Stark.

“OW!”

Tony looks at Banner closely, “Nothing?”

“Hey! Are you nuts?” Steve finally interjects.

“You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?” Stark says, ignoring him.

“Is everything a joke to you?” Steve asks, impatient.

“Funny things are.”

“Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, doctor.” The last piece is directed at Banner, who smiles in return.

“No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things.” He gestures toward the prod still in Tony’s hand.

“You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut.”

“And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark.”

“You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables.”

“You think Fury's hiding something?” Micaela starts actually listening at this point, instead of only passively paying attention to the conversation.

“He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets.” Tony points to Banner, “It's bugging him too, isn't it?”   


Bruce bobbs the words, “Uh...I just wanna finish my work here and…”

“Doctor?” Steve asks, and there’s a beat.

“'A warm light for all mankind’, Loki's jab at Fury about the cube.”

“I heard it,” Rogers answers.

Bruce points at Tony, “Well, I think that was meant for you. Even if Barton didn't post that all  over the news.”

“Stark Tower? That big ugly,” Steve starts, and Tony gives him a look, “...building in New York?”

“It's powered by Stark Reactors, self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?” Banner asks.

“That's just the prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now.”  _ How considerate. _

“So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?”

“I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files.”

Steve is taken aback by that comment. “I'm sorry, did you say...?”

“JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide.” Tony holds out a bag to Bruce, “Blueberry?”   


“Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?” Rogers shoots back.

“An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not possible.”   


“I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them.” Steve says rather deliberately.

“Following is not really my style,” Stark, nonchalant.   


Rogers just smiles, “And you're all about style, aren't you?”

That struck a nerve, “Of the people in this room, which one is; A. wearing a spangly outfit, and B. not of use? Even Miss Constantly Quiet over there is doing more work than you.”

Micaela’s monitor is pushed aside, “I’m sorry, was I addressed?”

Stark shoots her another curious look, “You’ve been listening this whole time, haven’t you?”

Bruce smiles, “No, it’s alright, go back to what you were doing,” She shrugs and gets back to work, “Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?”

Steve takes in the possibility, but as an obedient soldier, shakes it off. “Just find the cube.” And he’s gone.

“He’s a peachy fellow.”

Stark rolls his eyes, nodding at Micaela, before pointing at the door Steve just left through, “That's the guy my dad never shut up about? Wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice.”

“The guy's not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us,” Bruce answers.   


“What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit,” Tony retorts, “It's gonna blow up in his face, and I'm gonna be there when it does.”

“And Micaela and I'll read all about it,” Banner glances over at the mentioned girl, who gives him another small smile at his comment around the corner of her monitor.   


“Uh-huh. Or you two’ll be suiting up like the rest of us.”

“Ah, see. I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare,” the tone goes from playful and light to serious very quickly, and Micaela is left confused.   


“You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart.” He points at the glowing light under his shirt, “This stops it. This little circle of  light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a... terrible privilege.”   


“But you can control it.”   


“Because I learned how.”   


“It's different.” Banner tries to read the computer screen, but Tony slides the  data aside with his finger so the two can see face-to-face.   


“Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have  killed you.”   


“So you're saying that the Hulk... the other guy... saved my life? That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?”   


“I guess we'll find out.” Banner and Stark get back to work at their respective computers.   


“You might not like that.”   


“You just might.”

Micaela finally pushes her monitor aside, “What’s a Hulk?” She asks very seriously, and the two stare at her, mouths agape.

“Have you been living under a rock?” Stark asks, dumbfounded.

“A church, to be more specific.” She answers calmly.

Bruce snorts, “Well, that makes sense.” There’s no reverberation this time.

“The Hulk is the green rage monster that Good Guy Banner here turns into whenever he loses his cool,” Tony tells her, flicking some information away on his screen. She digests this information in the long pause that follows.

“Like Dr. Jekyll.”

“At least she’s had access to good literature,” Banner says with a grim smile.

“It was considered critical to my education.”

Tony laughs a little, “Yes, like Dr. Jekyll.”

“But bigger, meaner, scarier.”

“You may find, Dr. Banner, I am very hard to scare,” Micaela says, just before a feed of a giant, green monster in what looks like Harlem, New York, appears on her screen. She pulls it closer again, watching the beast rip apart cars and knock over buildings. She watches in silence, her expression unchanging. When she finally does peel away from the screen, the two men are watching, observing her. “Impressive? Yes. Scary? Hardly.”

Now Tony can barely keep the laugh back, rubbing a hand over his mouth. “Man, she’s got bigger balls than everyone on this ship. Y’know what, Micaela?” She moves the data on her screen aside to look at Stark through the clear plastic, “I like you.” He’s grinning from ear to ear.

Micaela’s eyes shift to Bruce, who’s trying desperately not to laugh, before returning to Tony. “I enjoy your company as well, Mr. Stark.”


	4. Chapter 4

The trio work through the night. While the two men eventually start to get a little sleepy and chat over coffee, they attribute Micaela’s restlessness to her youth. She doesn’t correct them. At some point around dawn, Stark and Banner finish the algorithm that’s going to find the Tesseract.

Finally, a little before breakfast, a little blip of information pops up on Tony’s monitor. He waves Bruce and Micaela over, and the three are quickly entrenched in S.H.I.E.L.D’s files. Fury walks in soon after, and is surprised to see the three stopped working on the scepter.   


“What are you doing, Mr. Stark?”

“Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you,” Tony answers easily from his seat on top of Banner’s desk.   


**“** You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract,” Fury answers nearly through his teeth.   


**“** We are,” the smugness coming from the three of them is nearly tangible, “The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile.”   


“And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss,” Secure files pop up in front of Tony on his monitor, “What is PHASE 2?”   


Micaela sees Steve enter with a large weapon, which he clangs loudly on a table. Fury turns to see Rogers looking pissed, “PHASE 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons,” he looks up at Tony, “Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for me.”   
  
Fury immediately tries to explain, “Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're-”The reverberation is back, intensely this time.   
  
“I’m sorry, Nick,” Tony moves the computer screen towards Fury which shows weapons plans, “What were you lying?”   


“I was wrong, director,” Steve says as Natasha and Thor enter, “The world hasn't changed a bit.”

Bruce and Natasha have a stare down until Banner breaks the silence, “Did you know about this?”   


“You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?” She shoots back calmly. Micaela turns to another monitor and returns to her work.   


Bruce only laughs, “I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed.”   


“Loki's manipulating you,” she answers.   


“And you've been doing what exactly?”   


“You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you.”   


“Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.”   


“Because of him,” Nick points at Thor.

The God of Thunder is stunned by this, “Me?”   


“Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned.”   


“My people want nothing but peace with your planet.”   


“But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled.” Macaela’s eyes move to Fury’s, who intentionally avoids contact.  _ That was meant for me. _   


“Like you controlled the cube?” Steve asks sarcastically.   


“You're work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war,” Thor reprimands.   


“A higher form?”   


“You forced our hand. We had to come up with so-”   


**“** Nuclear deterrent. `Cause that always calms everything right down.”   


“Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?”

**“** I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck in this about now.”

“Wait! Wait! Hold on! How is this about me?”

“I'm sorry, isn't everything?

“I thought humans were more evolved than this.”

“Excuse me, did WE come to YOUR planet and blow stuff up?”

“Did you always give your champions such mistrust?”

“Are you all really that naive? S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threats.”

“Captain America is on the watch list?”

“All of us are.”

“I swear to God, Stark, one more crack…”

“You're on that list? Are you above or below angry bees? Threatening! I feel threatened!”

The blue gem on Loki’s scepter begins to glow. Miceala looks over as she hears a soft voice, and she pushes her monitor away. She’d mostly tuned out the argument, but now the ‘team’ sounds like they’re miles away. Getting up from her bar stool she sat on for the last several hours, she slowly drifts toward the scepter. She’s not really aware of her surroundings, or how she’s even getting from her chair to the table, only that she is. She doesn’t notice the conversation die down a little as a few start to notice her approach. She doesn’t notice that her eyes are glowing blue, or that her fingertips are turning the same cyan as the stone in the scepter, or even really that she’s reaching for the scepter in the first place. All she hears is the voice. Beckoning her, soothing her, reaching her.

“ **MICAELA** ,” another voice suddenly sounds right next to her, and arms wrap around her, stopping her hand from reaching the weapon. She suddenly pulls back, startled, and looks to her right distractedly. It takes a second to notice Bruce holding her, worry in his eyes. “Micaela, are you alright?”

She tilts her head a little to the side as she stares at him curiously, “You seem distressed, Dr. Banner. Is there something I can help you with?” She asks in a delicate voice.

**Beep.**

“Got it!” Tony suddenly declares as he bolts to another desk, checking the computer.

“Located the Tesseract?” Thor asks, watching him as Bruce and Micaela move to investigate the computer.   


“Look, all of us…”

“I can get there faster,” Tony says, ignoring Thor and Steve.   


“The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it!”

Tony turns to leave, but Steve grabs his arm, which Stark immediately slaps away, “You're not going alone!” Steve declares.   


“You gonna stop me?” Tony asks, baiting him.   


“Put on the suit, let's find out,” Steve answers, taking the bait, and Micaela moves to break up the fight before it gets worse.   


“I'm not afraid to hit an old man.”   


“Put on the suit.”   


At that moment Banner, who's looking at the monitor, notices something about the Tesseract. “Oh, my God!” He says as he takes off his glasses and looks up at the rest of team.   


At that instant, one of the engines explodes. Everyone is thrown in every direction. Steve, Fury, Micaela, Thor and Tony are thrown across while Natasha and Banner is down in the lower equipment room. Steve looks up at Tony.   


“Put on the suit!”

“Yep!”

Steve helps Tony and Micaela up and out of the lab, none of their feet really wanting to work that well. They charge down the hallways toward the armory so Stark can get his suit. Micaela fishes out the earpiece Romanoff had given her yesterday still in her pocket, and immediately plugs in. 

“- _ re engine, we won't be. Somebody's got to get inside and patch that engine! _ ” Comes the crackling voice of Agent Hill over the intercom. She and Stark share a look.

“ _ Stark, you copy that?! _ ” Nick says.

“I’m on it!” Tony says into the earpiece as they reach the door.

“ _ Micaela! Rumor has it you’re strong. Show me what you can do! _ ”

Steve and Micaela share a glance, and when he gives her the nod to go, she puts a finger against the earpiece, “On my way.”

The strange black markings covering her body unfurl in front of Rogers and Stark, who both turn to watch. Peeling away from her face, they seem to vanish off of her, and massive black shadows fill up the hallway behind her. She takes off charging down the hall to where the breach is, the shadows trailing behind. When she finds an opening, her body is covered in a bright glow for a few seconds, and when it fades, she’s in her white and gold armor again from earlier.

Taking a swan dive off the opening, she plummets nearly two hundred feet straight down, before suddenly banking, catching a bit of wind and soaring back upward toward the vessel. She turns at the last second, placing her back up against the hull, and the shadows appear again, stretched out against the ship, their full shape revealing two large wings, invisible to the naked eye. With what appears to be an enormous amount of effort, and the help of the other three still functioning turbines, she pushes back against the ship, keeping it airborne with her sheer strength.


End file.
